


River Running

by taichara



Category: King of Bones - Erin A. Bisson
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 03:54:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1884357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miri and Keshan escape the pressures of summer heatwaves and the chaos at the Keep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	River Running

The shine of summer sunlight on rippling waves of grass, the whispering of the warm breeze as it plucked at flying hair and the manes of galloping hippari; these were lovely things, to be sure, but they made escape from the Masterhealer's tasks all the sweeter. It wasn't the sun nor the balmy breeze that Keshan and Miri were chasing. No, they had had enough of the heat beating down on them -- it was time to head for water.

Not the tepid liquid from the well of the Keep, either, though they'd taken more than once to splashing each other with it; not when the silvery ripples of the Avaelu were within an hour's ride, complete with a couple of bent-branched trees, a little pocket of reedy water and a smooth shelf of riverbank. There were advantages to having the run of Girar Keep's own lands, and in the height of late summer swimming without disturbance was -- in Miri's opinion -- by far the greatest. Being given the gentle suggestion to return with a bit of the river's bounty was a small price for escaping the heat and the chaos that flooded the Keep.

The pair had been certain to bring fishing lines and a basket of stuffed dumplings from the kitchens, along with lead-lines for their mounts. Their hippari were content enough to be tethered to the largest tree within reach of browse and the river; their saddles barely had time to land beneath a tree before Miri was hauling off clothing, Keshan barely two steps behind her as they made for the inviting coolness of the water. Before long, however, Keshan was back on the bank again, sitting tailor-fashion and knotting hooks to lines with fingers and teeth while Miri waded along the banks, pulling up long stalks of sweet flag. The long shirt he still sported clung wetly; chattering his fangs irritably, he put down his work and pulled open its laces.

"You do know, Miri, that I am ..."

He never got the rest of the sentence out of his mouth before she was waving a sweet flag stalk warningly, swift as a whip. _Smack_ went the stalk against his hands, causing Keshan's ears to slick quickly backwards in aggrieved annoyance as he shouldered the damp linen back into place.

"I see no reason to stay covered when you are hardly bothering. It is too desperately hot for this, and especially so when the water is right there."

"Yes, and the _last_ time we went swimming you stripped down bare and came back red as a strawberry!

" _Don't_ try and say you want to go through that again with all the burning and itching and peeling, you're a terrible liar anyway, your ears give you away."

Her bundle of sweet flag now being summarily dropped onto the bank next to Keshan, Miri waded further out into the Avaelu's currents and submerged herself in the cool water. To Keshan's eyes the journeyhealer was nothing but a shimmering, blurry mass of light linen underskirting and rusty red ringlets twisting wildly in the flow -- then in an eyeblink she surfaced again, right under his nose, and tweaked his dun-grey plait.

"You're _finally_ getting kind of sun-dark, sort of, though, so maybe after this time Master Dashyan'll say you'll be fine; and it isn't as if you're that put-upon and all that, that thing's not much more than a night-shift with the hems slit right up the sides."

"I know, I know."

A quick smile flickered across Keshan's face as his ears tipped slowly forward. No, he would much rather wait and deal with the mild annoyance of clinging clothing than cook under the sun like that again; and the Great One be thanked for Miri -- to say nothing of Vitry and Dashyan! -- having the patience to coach him through that particular agony.

_There are more important things in any case._

_Let's see, now --_

Coiling up the fishing lines and setting them on a smooth stone alongside their discarded clothing, Keshan stood and stretched carefully, taking a swipe at the tail of his shirt to smooth it down.

"Miri, if you could come back here for a moment ...?"

His bare legs were streaked with the clay of the bank where shirttails hadn't covered him, but that was fine. Setting his feet carefully, he dug the claws of his toes into the warm clay and did his level best to keep his expression clear and innocently inquiring and his ears tipped casually forward ...

"Eh? Keshan? -- ackph --!!"

Between one beat and the next Keshan flashed a sharp-toothed, lazy grin. Lunging off the bank towards the unsuspecting Miri, he locked his arms around her and sent them both tumbling in a heap back into the river.

* * *

"That's _still_ a low trick you know, I thought maybe you caught yourself on a hook or something else like that and I'd have to cut it out."

"It is not like you weren't already wet still -- and then there was still no harm done, you enjoyed that as much as I."

"Yes, well -- oh, you're right. Just warn me next time, you aren't exactly featherweight any more!"

Keshan's only response was to chuckle and cheekily remind her to tug on her line before it caught amongst the reeds. They were evenly matched for snagging lines and losing hooks, if the truth be told; he had lost the first during the actual _fish_ -fishing, once they had settled down after their watery escapades, but then Miri lost one of her own after a late lunch of dumplings and fresh goldfins. Now the early evening was rolling on, and it was the best time of day to bait their lines with bits of fish and jig for melon frogs. Already they had caught nearly a dozen fat hoppers between them -- a nice complement to the goldfins wrapped in grass and clay, waiting to be brought back to the Keep -- but the cooler evening air was pleasant, and neither was willing to change clothes and ride back to Vannesheight quite yet.

His back against a low-curving branch, Keshan tweaked diligently at his own line. Miri followed suit before reeling hand over hand with a triumphant smile; another melon frog. Keshan fetched the basket containing their catch as Miri expertly dispatched her prize with a deft flick of an awl to be the hopper's skull, then tilted one ear questioningly when Miri sighed. But she brushed away the unspoken query, baiting her hook and tossing it back into the reeds.

"Oh, it's nothing; I'd just like to keep on like this forever sometimes, is all.

"No stampedes of harebrained nobles or Gildfolk through the Keep, no scurrying around after Master Dashyan or the new apprentices or chasing Lord Vitry with you -- I hope he gets the Council seats filled soon! he's going to fall in his tracks, watch if he doesn't -- or any of the rest. Sometimes ..."

"Sometimes, it is a good thing to be able to forget for a little."

"Exactly! And I _know_ Master Dashyan and Lord Vitry and Chari don't spite us going out any more than we do them. But I'd give a lot to have all that undone, not ever happened."

Keshan heaved his own sigh at that, nodding silently. There was nothing in the sentiment he didn't agree with; and given that if, well, had 'nothing happened' he would hardly be in Vannes at all, he chose not to mention it. It was the intent, not the actual words, and he knew what she meant. Leaning into Miri, he scooped up a pebble and tossed it into the currents, ignoring her protests as a frog called in alarm.

"We shall have to be like the river; we two, and Vitry and Master Dashyan and all of Vannes. The river keeps moving, always moving, even against an obstruction.

"We _will_ be like the river, and we will keep moving for those who cannot."

Miri relaxed against Keshan's shoulder, leaning back against him as she waggled her line.

"Exactly. We'll do it, just you wait."


End file.
